Dandelion Project

Young Citizens Journalism Project North London

First impressions of London – a visitor’s view My name is Jenny Maharjan. I came to London on September 9, 2011, from Nepal, aged 14, and speaking no English.My first impressions of the differences between my city, Kathmandu, and London may surprise you. I …

Addicted to gaming? Young people and children are vulnerable to loss of moral values when there are bad authority figures in games, says Katarzyna Olejnik, or when use of violence is rewarded by success. Other games can educate and improve skills when children don’t want to reach for a book. Here she asks other young …

Everybody Dreams – a 2012 highlight? Gladesmore School students were so unhappy with the negative image from the riots, they recorded a song at Abbey Road studios, met numerous celebs, staged a flash mob in Tottenham then got to number 34 in the charts. This is how it all came about, by Jonathan Imiere of …

“A lot of young people go to prison thinking it’s cool. After about a year, when people can’t visit you anymore, maybe once you’ve been transferred from a prison near where you lived, it hits you: you’re in there alone and it’s not cool at all.” Prison. We hear about it all the time in …

‘Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits’. Too often this line in the Qu’ran is misinterpreted by many people, Muslim and Non-Muslim alike. This is wrong. As is anyone who misuses, in the same way, the biblical teaching of an ‘eye for an eye’. Bayo Adebiyi-Tanice wants to …

Sister Act: two England netball champs under one roof Two sisters are putting North London on the map with their glorious netballing skills. Sasha and Kadeen Corbin, have had a remarkable year: Kadeen played for Team Bath and Sasha for Hertfordshire Mavericks, and both are representing Team England netball in the Barbados Test Series this April. …

2.09am: I was on the computer at home when my neighbour, Leona, texted me: ‘Come Outside. Everyone’s here because of the riots.’ From the high landing of our flats, we could see the chaos erupting below, hear the shouts of the rioters and the breaking of glass. ‘Haven’t you watched the news? There’s a …

The circus has come to town! More focus and quicker thinking; improved coordination and better maths … who knew circus skills could achieve so much?! We talked to JL Circus in North London Q: Why do you do circus skills – and what has it given you? A: My friends didn’t take my circus …

Mental health issues? It’s time for some respect You wouldn’t dismiss someone with a broken leg, so why dismiss someone suffering with mental health? A high percentage of those in Britain suffering from a form of mental health disorder are too scared to speak out, to a medical professional or a family member. What …

Sk8 at eight ‘Skateboarding is like a sport which is very different to most. It can be done individually or with friends who enjoy it as well.’ Alfie Cartwright took the pictures and tells Elliott’s story. Elliott Brown now 15 years old has enjoyed Skateboarding since the young age of 8. Going to skate parks …

Home

Our journey since August 2011…

Our journalism project is over but the stories remain as a snapshot of what the young people of North London cared about between 2011 and 2015.

From serious problems of being homeless in 21st Century Britain, bullied, or an ex convict, to graffiti, life under the Hijab, community allotments and much more… the words and pictures are all the work of young Londoners.

Our project was prompted by their need for a voice, when the mainstream media was showing little respect following the social unrest in summer 2011. Each year brought new supporters and commissions and it’s great to know most of our ‘journalists’ have gone on to university and jobs.

Here are our highlights:

Tottenham’s regeneration captured on film

Fiona was 14 when she came to our first editorial meeting and the project we’d set up in response to the negativity around the London riots of August 2011.

She later completed a blog documenting the regeneration of North Tottenham. The picture montage below completes the series and shows the new Enterprise Centre 639, which was one of many buildings damaged in the riots.

She was also interviewed by urban developers Arup re the improvements she’s noted since that August night when she watched Carpet Right go up in flames from the window of her flat.

Here’s what we were most proud of in 2014…

Circus Skills!

Very pleased to have interviewed and photographed some lively and focussed young people from JL Circus in Tottenham. This was part of our ‘Ledley King’ hidden assets project.

Where have we come from? Some previous Dandelion highlights

Award worthy Dandelion Volunteer!

Dandelion Project nominated Money Lovedeep Singh for a Team London Volunteer Award in late 2013. He was short listed and attended City Hall alongside hundreds of other volunteers from across London.

We first met Money at theYouth Club in Tottenham’s Bruce Grove where he was helping ‘Pastor Alex’ of Highway Project run the ‘teatime club’. He came and did a photography project with us and supported us at various events.

Money helping out at a Dandelion event

We found out that after three months living on London’s streets and buses he ended up living with 50 others in a Tottenham church. He carried on studying and distributes food to the homeless – as a volunteer, every day, for the past three years!

Baykan Malik and Tiana Thompson from Northumberland Park School interviewed Kwame Edwards, director of Rising Generations, local artists he represented, and even the London mayor as part of our 2013 Help A Capital Child programme to develop journalism skills.

‘The girls were very shy at first and stuck together,’ said Stephanie Kamin of Team London after the opening of Tottenham’s enterprise zone, 639. ‘But they finished the evening in great form, speaking confidently, and separately, to all the gathered guests and artists, collecting their stories.’

Meanwhile…

Tottenham and Wood Green Journal published versions of two stories from Dandelion!

out_haringey_kids_creative_side_1_2000976This was the outcome from Media Trust projects which involved 15 young people in Haringey. We gave them ‘work-related’ writing and photography experience, including interviewing Tottenham residents and reporting on various community projects.

Homes for Haringey’s Project 20:20

We have previously worked on a research project with Homes for Haringey, and were pleased to see their new youth club – Off Road – open in 2013 on Northumberland Park estate, east of Haringey borough.

When we met Aaron, he was helping us take photographs and conduct interviews into the social needs of North Tottenham residents. He was among a group that presented findings at CITY HALL in October 2012, to counsellors and design

consultants, Arup. Over 30 young people were involved in the research stage and a group of seven then took their views to City Hall. Later the Dandelion Project was named in the It Took Another Riot report as a positive venture for Tottenham. http://www.london.gov.uk/file/1596

Our early days of 2012 – gone but not forgotten

In 2012 we were lucky to receive a donation from Aaron Biber, veteran barber from Tottenham, and a victim of the riots in August 2011. The ‘Keep Aaron Cutting’campaign was launched after the 90-year-old’s barber business behind the Pride of Tottenham pub was trashed in the riots last year. Once he’d repaired his shop, he gave the extra money raised to local youth projects like ours.

Pictured with Aaron at his shop is Maleka Carter of ad agency BBH, which organised the campaign; Fiona Nemale, a founding member of Dandelion; Kay Horne, Tottenham’s Business Connector

In 2012 we also received a donation from Haringey Community Circles. Dandelion’s young journalists benefited from £2,000 of proceeds from a 2012 charity calendar sold in Crouch End. Haringey Community Circles was a response to the crisis in the borough after the August 2011 riots.

Dandelion project has worked with around 75 young people from Haringey – our supporters funding helped.